A Brand New Christmas
by Leonineus
Summary: It is Naruto's first Christmas after losing Jiraiya. How will he cope, and how will a certain blue-haired lavender-eyed kunoichi help make it a great Christmas for him? Unashamedly NaruHina though I have no idea how it got like that, slight OOC.


A Brand New Christmas

**(A/N: Merry Christmas to you all!)**

It was Christmas morning, and Konohagakure no Sato was blanketed in a thick layer of snow. In a small ground-floor apartment, Naruto Uzumaki opened his eyes. His eyes scanned the sparsely decorated room and settled on the calendar, which simply read: DECEMBER 25TH. He sighed and rolled out of bed to dress.

It had now been two months since Konoha had finally finished rebuilding after it had been devastated by Nagato. His seventeenth birthday had come and gone without celebration, and Naruto was already resigning himself to spending his Christmas alone.

Quickly pulling a muscle shirt and sweatpants on, he walked into his small kitchen and put the kettle on to boil while he prepared a mug for tea. As soon as he was done, he waited patiently.

The kettle whistled piercingly, but as Naruto picked it up the doorbell rang. Startled by the loud noise, he dropped the kettle and spilt boiling water over his hand.

Uttering a loud profanity, he stumbled over to the sink to run his hand under the cold tap before heading to the front door.

-ABNC-

Hinata jumped as she heard a crash from within Naruto's apartment, followed by his voice cursing loudly. A few seconds later, she heard shuffling feet and the door opened to reveal Naruto, dressed only in a muscle shirt and sweatpants, and cradling one hand close to his stomach.

"Oh… hi Hinata. What are you doing here?"

Hinata shivered and held up the covered tray in her arms, "C-Can I c-come in?"

"Huh? Oh, sure."

He stood back and Hinata walked into the apartment. Despite her mittens, scarf, hat and thick coat, he could see that her cheeks were vividly blue from the cold.

Naruto shut the door and walked over to the fireplace, where he began trying to light it one-handed. Hinata set the tray down on the table and began shrugging off her winter clothing. She turned as she heard Naruto curse a second time and drop the lighter, having evidently just burnt his fingers.

"Here, let me," she walked over and crouched beside him, picking up the lighter and easily setting the log fire ablaze. She set the lighter on the hearth and turned to look in his direction. "Are your hands okay, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto shook his head, only dimly noting that she was no longer stuttering, "Scalded one, burnt the other."

Hinata reached out and took his hands in hers. A haze of chakra surrounded their linked hands and the blond male gave a visible sigh of relief, raising his eyes to meet hers, "Thanks Hinata-chan. That's a big help."

The girl smiled at him as she moved to release his hands, but he twisted his hands and caught her own cold ones between his warm ones, "You know, we never actually talked about… _that_ day did we?"

Hinata stiffened slightly and looked away from him, "Um… n-no we didn't."

Naruto smiled, shifting his position to sit cross-legged in front of the fire, "Well, why don't we talk now? We both know why and how things went as they did, don't we?"

Hinata nodded, still avoiding his eyes, "Y-Yes."

Naruto tightened his grip on her hands, "Hinata-chan, look at me."

She raised her eyes and looked him straight in the face as he continued, "I heard you say you loved me and that was why you were willing to die to protect me. You almost _did_ die protecting me, but I had the chance to talk to Sakura after the whole thing was over with. She… she told me the whole thing, and I was an idiot not to see it."

Hinata blushed and tried to tug her hands away, but Naruto held on, "No, Hinata. I need to say this, and you need to hear it. I was an idiot not to see what was right in front of me in favour of pursuing someone else. Those years at the Academy… I wasted them. But you almost dying opened my eyes, and Sakura's explanation only proved me right. Hinata…"

Hinata blinked; her clear, pearlescent lavender eyes briefly obscured before they opened again and she was giving him a curious look, "What, Naruto-kun…?"

Naruto took a deep breath, "Hinata… I'm a marked man. Just by my associating with you, Akatsuki _is_ going to target you to try and gain leverage over me."

Hinata jerked her hands away and got up, walking quickly to the nearest window. Naruto followed, "Hinata?"

Hinata stopped at the window and turned on the spot, "Naruto-kun, I don't care! I'll just have to get stronger so that they _can't_ get me!"

"Hinata…" Naruto said, "Please listen…"

"No!" Hinata said, and for the first time she was shouting, "_You_ listen! I don't care, Naruto-kun! I was willing to die protecting you once, I'll do it again!"

Naruto swallowed; this was getting more difficult, "Hinata, please…"

Hinata turned her back, her hair obscuring her face from view.

Naruto tried to speak, but was interrupted by a voice behind him, "Is this a bad time?"

Both of them turned around. Ino, Shikamaru and Chōji stood in the doorway, looking at them. Hinata turned abruptly back to the window as Naruto frowned, "Hang on, I shut the door. How'd you get in here?"

Shikamaru sighed, "Troublesome… your door is pathetically easy to pick the lock on, Naruto. We heard arguing and Ino, being as troublesome as she is, dragged us here to look."

Ino folded her arms, "It sounds like you two were disagreeing on something…"

Naruto swallowed, "No… no we weren't."

Ino glared at him, "Naruto, you may be an incredibly powerful ninja… but you royally suck at lying. Plus, I'm a Yamanaka. We _read minds_."

Naruto sighed, "Fine. We were arguing."

"About what?"

Naruto opened his mouth, but Ino stalked over and poked him in the chest, "Naruto, this is a golden opportunity. Hinata's fanned her flame for long enough, it's time for you to reciprocate."

Naruto stammered, "But… but… Akatsuki!"

Ino punched him in the stomach. She'd obviously been training with Tsunade; the punch _hurt_. All the same, it wasn't a scratch on Sakura or the Godaime herself; Naruto didn't even leave the floor. "Baka!" snapped Ino, "Do you really have so little faith in the rest of us? If Hinata's in danger, we'll back her up!"

Naruto tried to protest, but Ino gripped his ear and pulled him upright, "Now, say what Hinata wants to hear!"

Hinata had apparently regressed back to her old self; she was poking her fingers together and stuttering enough to win a medal, "Um, I-Ino-san, y-you d-don't n-need to m-make him s-say it…"

"Of course I do!" growled Ino, "This moron won't say it if I don't!"

"Get off!" yelled Naruto, grabbing Ino's wrist and pulling her hand away from the death grip it had on his ear, "I'll say it, okay? I'm sorry! Hinata, will you be my girlfriend?"

There was _dead_ silence in the apartment. Then a voice from outside yelled, "WHAAAAAAAAAT?"

Five heads turned to see Kiba and Shino in the doorway with Kurenai behind them. The heavily pregnant woman was smiling, Kiba looked somewhere between horrified and furious and Shino… well he was just being Shino. "Did. I. Hear. That. _Right_?" hissed Kiba, "Did he just ask Hinata out?"

Shino adjusted his goggles, the light from the fire catching the lenses, "It would appear so. However judging by Hinata's reaction, she seems not to mind."

"Huh?" Naruto turned his head just in time; Hinata's old habits had kicked back in and she fainted in his arms.

-ABNC-

Hinata felt unfeasibly warm as she woke up, and her head was resting on something very soft. A yellow blur appeared above her, "Hinata-chan? Hinata-chan, are you okay?"

Hinata's vision suddenly came back into clear focus. Naruto was bending over her, and her head appeared to be resting in his lap. He looked relieved, "Are you okay?"

Kurenai's voice broke in, "She's fine. She's done this before."

Shikamaru's voice came next, "Kurenai-sensei, you shouldn't be moving so much! Shino, get Kiba in here; you're letting all the hot air out and it's getting troublesome!"

There were hurried footsteps and the sound of a door shutting. Kurenai appeared above Hinata, "Are you okay Hinata?"

Hinata nodded and sat up. Naruto shuffled up behind her and stroked her back tentatively. Kurenai sank onto the sofa, assisted by the pineapple-haired chūnin, "Shikamaru, I'm not an invalid!"

Shikamaru looked remarkably more concerned than he would usually find troublesome, "I don't care. I promised Asuma-sensei, didn't I?"

Kurenai nodded, but at that moment there was a commotion. "You BASTARD!" Kiba yelled and launched himself at Naruto.

Naruto jumped away from Hinata, caught Kiba full-on and flipped him right over his head. Ino, still standing helpfully by the window, opened it just in time to avoid being sprayed with glass. Instead, Kiba flew through the open window and ploughed into a snowdrift on the other side of the street. As he struggled back to his feet, angry and spitting snow, Ino shut the window again.

"Thanks Ino," Naruto commented.

"You can't blame him," Kurenai said calmly, "He has liked Hinata for a while."

Naruto frowned, "Well maybe I should…" he was cut off as Hinata grabbed hold of the straps of his muscle shirt and pulled him nose-to-nose with her, her Byakugan activating as she hissed, "Don't. Even. Say it."

Naruto was so taken aback by Hinata's reaction he could only squeak, "Okay!"

Hinata released him, her Byakugan deactivating. Kurenai was chuckling; Ino was actually on the floor by this point because she was laughing so hard.

The moment was broken by a knock at the door. "Chōji, can you get that please?" said Shikamaru.

Chōji opened the door. "Chōji? What are you doing here?" said Sakura's voice.

"And _why_," said a voice quite as cold as the sudden draft, "is Hinata-sama kneeling over Naruto, who I might add is in less than a full state of dress?"

The two aforementioned people looked down and instantly blushed as they realized their compromising position. Hinata tried to get off Naruto, but ended up falling into his lap even more than she already was.

Tenten poked her head in, then walked smartly over to Ino, plopped herself down in front of the platinum blonde and held out her hand, "Cough up!"

Ino scowled, rooted in the pocket of her jacket and pulled out her purse. A few ryō bills changed hands.

Naruto was about to comment on this, but at that moment Neji stalked over the threshold, Byakugan blazing as he strode towards Naruto and Hinata where they sat in front of the fire. Kurenai's crimson eyes twinkled with an uncharacteristic mischievousness as she stuck out her foot.

Neji tripped, tumbled forwards and landed on top of Tenten.

There was an even deader silence in the apartment as everybody stared at Neji and Tenten on the floor. After a long and _very_ awkward pause, Neji drew back, separating his lips from Tenten's where they had accidentally kissed.

Hinata saw the opportunity and took it, "_Why_," she said, smirking in that foxy way that only Naruto was known for, "is Neji-nii-san kneeling over Tenten-san, and in such a compromising position, no less?"

Neji's face went so red he might have just taken a bite of the Curry of Life; he threw himself backwards off of Tenten, who stayed on the floor but raised a hand to touch her lips.

"Neji-kun," she said finally, "If you wanted to, you only needed to ask."

The world suddenly seemed to invert on its axis. Neji stuttered unintelligibly for a few seconds, poked his fingers together, blushed even deeper red than before and finally just passed out.

There was a pause, and then a thud as Ino hit the floor once more, almost incapable of breathing due to her laughter.

"Careful Ino," said Chōji in a _very_ sardonic tone, "If you laugh too hard, you might repeat our childhood."

Ino seemed to choke on nothing but air; her face went crimson and she stammered uncontrollably.

"What happened?" asked Tenten curiously.

Shikamaru opened his mouth but Ino cut him off, "Say it and I'll make you prance around the village in a tutu when you least expect it, Shika!"

Shikamaru's teeth made an audible clicking noise as he shut his mouth, but then a voice from the door drew their attention a second time, "I'd rather you didn't do that, Yamanaka-san. I'd rather get the chance to talk to him without him being unable to show his face around the village."

All heads looked. Sakura still stood in the doorway with Lee and Sai on either side of her, but behind them were three people Naruto immediately recognized. "Gaara! Kankurō! Temari!"

Kankurō raised a hand in lazy acknowledgement of the greeting as Temari waved. Gaara simply smiled, "Nice to see you too, Naruto."

"Why don't you come in?" said Shikamaru irritably, "You're being troublesome; letting the hot air out again!"

Kurenai still had that twinkle in her eye as she turned her head to look up at her late boyfriend's student, "Shikamaru, you're acting like a mother hen."

Shikamaru's undignified spluttering was drowned out as the six people in the doorway hustled into the warm apartment. Temari immediately rounded on her brothers as soon as she saw Naruto and Hinata seated so close to one another, "Both of you cough up."

Kankurō reached for his wallet, but Gaara simply fixed his sister with a deadpan glare, "I refuse. Unless you'd like me to tell "Shika-kun" about what you wrote in your diary-…"

"DIE!" roared Temari, swinging her battle fan at her littlest brother. Sand flew from Gaara's gourd and easily disarmed her, leaving her apoplectic with rage but helpless to retaliate.

"Hey, no weapons in my apartment!" Naruto yelled, "If you're going to fight, take it outside! Now everyone just sit down!"

Everybody obeyed. Everybody except Lee. "YOSH!" he shouted, pointing at Naruto, "YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHTLY, NARUTO-KUN! I MUST FAN MY OWN HIGHER SO THAT I MAY FIND A BEAUTIFUL GIRL!"

"Well there's one there," Naruto nodded at Sakura.

There was a pause as Sakura stared at Naruto, "W-What?"

Naruto looked back at her, "Sorry, Sakura. But what we spoke about after everything was over and done with opened my eyes. We'll always be friends, just not…" he trailed off, not able to finish the sentence.

Sakura simply nodded, tears in her eyes, "I understand…"

Lee immediately crouched down to comfort her. An awkward silence fell, and Kurenai took charge, "How about we split up a little? Lee, stay with Sakura. Shikamaru, over there with Temari."

The same thought crossed multiple minds, _"Is she trying to matchmake?"_

Hinata cut in, "Ino, go sit with Chōji. Tenten-san…" she leaned over and poked Neji in the stomach, "Get up, Neji-nii-san."

Neji opened his eyes and winced, "Please tell me that was a dream."

Hinata poked him again, harder, "No. Get up and sit with Tenten-san, or else."

"Or else what?" challenged the Branch Hyūga.

Hinata stared him down, "Or I drag you outside and show you what being on the receiving end of my Jūho Sōshiken feels like."

Neji gulped, immediately sitting up and shuffling over to Tenten, who snuggled against his shoulder. Kankurō snickered and muttered something which sounded like "whipped".

"Kankurō-kun," said Hinata softly, and the puppeteer winced, "You sit with Shino-kun."

Shino said nothing, but a buzzing filled the air. "Shino-kun," said Hinata, "Please sit with Kankurō-kun. And you may use his puppets for their high fibre content to strengthen them if he says another word."

Gaara wrapped his brother in sand and forcibly sat him down, while he himself lounged against the wall.

Sai spoke for the first time, "I see… so dickless isn't quite as dickless as I thought-ack!"

An ash shovel that had previously hung beside the fire flew across the room and hit Sai squarely on the forehead, knocking him out. Everybody stared at the unconscious boy on the floor, then over at Hinata who was dusting off her hands, "What? He annoyed me."

Chōji and Ino, who were sitting closest to them, edged a little further away.

-ABNC-

The window behind them opened, and they heard a flurry of movement, "Let me at him! I'll break him! I swear I will! Then Akamaru can pee on him! He deserves it for-hey!"

Kakashi had appeared on the windowsill, nonchalantly kicking Kiba backwards into the same snowdrift he had previously landed in as he did so, "Yo."

"Hi, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto commented, though the last word was drowned out by Kiba's outcry.

"OH GOD! THAT WAS YELLOW SNOW!"

All the females in the room simultaneously made an "eww" sound as Kakashi climbed in, followed by Yamato. "We thought we'd stop in and see how you were doing Naruto. Kazekage-sama, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Suna?"

Gaara smirked, "Suna Bunshin… they're such a wonderful invention."

Kakashi nodded, "Ah. Anyway, Yamato?"

Yamato produced a sealing scroll, glanced around the apartment, and then leaned out of the window. A few seconds later he leaned back in, pulling a full-sized Christmas tree (devoid of decorations) behind him.

Throwing the scroll to Naruto he said, "Well? Get the decorations out. You guys can decorate this together; we already went by this lot's houses to collect presents."

Naruto blinked, "Wha?"

Hinata hugged him, "Everybody bought you presents, Naruto-kun!"

Naruto smiled, "Thanks guys." He unrolled the scroll and produced a large quantity of decorations, which they all shared out and began putting onto the tree Yamato and Kakashi had now manhandled into a corner.

"Wait a sec," said Temari as she hooked a bauble near the top of the tree, "Why is it moving?"

Everybody looked. Sure enough, the branches were shifting. Naruto cast a sidelong look at Hinata, who activated her Byakugan. The girl immediately gasped and got up. Walking quickly over to the tree, she reached into it and pulled out a brown cat with a red ribbon on one ear.

Naruto recoiled; past memories of trauma at the hands of the demonic creature rising to the surface… until he saw that Tora was purring and snuggling into Hinata's chest.

"Lucky little bastard," muttered Kankurō. All eyes swivelled towards him and locked on. He began sweating, "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes… yes, you did." Gaara said flatly, several streams of sand grabbing his brother by the back of his pants and his ankles before pulling in opposite directions. Kankurō gave a high-pitched squeal of pain before Gaara's sand carried him to the window, opened it and tossed him into the yellow snow patch that Kiba had only just staggered out of, knocking the latter back into it. As the two began squabbling and trying to spit out the ominously-tinted snow, Gaara closed the window and returned to draping tinsel around the tree.

-ABNC-

The next while passed in companionable silence, each of them decorating the tree, until Naruto produced one last item from the scroll and turned to Hinata, "Hinata-chan, care to do the honours?"

Hinata smiled and took it from him, and as he gave her a boost, she quickly placed the angel on top of the tree.

Naruto caught Hinata as she dropped and set her back on her feet, all of them looking proudly up at their creation. Finally Naruto turned to Hinata, "My tenshi," he murmured, and kissed her.

A chorus of "aww"'s echoed around the room from the girls, before a few looks were exchanged. Chōji and Ino glanced at each other before blushing, Sakura was looking shyly at Lee and (predictably) Temari was giving Shikamaru a pointed glare. Tenten seemed the least hesitant; she had grabbed Neji as soon as Naruto and Hinata had broken their own kiss and dragged him onto the couch.

Naruto walked over to the window, scooped a load of snow and ice from the sill and threw it at them. Tenten shrieked with surprise as the cold powder hit her, and Neji yelped. Naruto smirked, "Leave it until you get back to Neji's place, you two. This is my apartment."

Neji scowled, "I still live in the Hyūga compound, Naruto. A place filled with people with Byakugan."

Naruto didn't reply, he simply turned to Tenten, "Tenten, is your apartment, or more specifically your bedroom, anywhere near the Hyūga compound?"

When she shook her head, he smirked, "Problem solved."

Tenten laughed, then gained a calculating look, "I'm still going to get you back for hitting me with snow though."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her, "Snowball fight!"

He ran into his room and shut the door to get changed.

-ABNC-

The snowball fight was heated. Kakashi chose to stay inside (though the presence of a pregnancy hormone-fuelled Kurenai prevented him from reading his Icha Icha), while Yamato decided to referee. It ended up as Teams Kakashi and Kurenai versus Teams Asuma and Gai. Gaara and Temari replaced Kiba and Sai (who was regrettably still unconscious), and when Kankurō and Kiba tried to gate-crash the fight they got bombarded from all sides.

Overall, it was a very fun day, and everyone proceeded back inside very wet and cold but happy to open presents. It transpired that Kakashi and Yamato had done more than just collected presents for Naruto; they'd actually collected any and all presents the members of the Konoha 11 had procured for one another, and a good time was had by all.

Tsunade and Shizune turned up midway through the present opening, the latter carrying a full Christmas dinner in a sealing scroll although, much to Tsunade's chagrin, there was no sake.

-ABNC-

That night, after everyone had gone home well-fed and talking contentedly, Naruto and Hinata were alone in Naruto's living room, calm silence filling the air.

Finally Hinata said, "I should go. Tou-san will be expecting me."

Naruto nodded and quickly donned his own winter gear before locking the apartment and escorting Hinata back to the Hyūga compound.

It wasn't until they reached the gate that they realized they were being followed. They both stopped and simply stood gazing at each other, before Hinata caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. Looking up, she saw a sprig of mistletoe above her. Following it, she found a fishing rod, and on the end of the fishing rod stood Tenten and Ino, both doing their best to stay silent.

Hinata giggled, "Well, I guess it is Christmas tradition, right?"

Naruto nodded, and pulled her close. They gazed into each other's eyes for a second longer, and then their lips met.

Tenten jerked the fishing line back as Ino whipped out a camera, but Naruto and Hinata couldn't care less, lost as they were in the kiss.

The two girls waited, but when neither Naruto nor Hinata showed any sign of surfacing they started to get a little restless. Finally Tenten noticed a tall figure approaching the gate from within the compound. She nudged Ino, and they both faded into the night.

A cough jerked the two lovebirds apart. Hiashi Hyūga stood before them, and despite being wrapped up in lots of winter layers the ceremonial katana at his hip and blazing Byakugan were somewhat obvious. "Uzumaki," he said formally.

"Hyūga-san," Naruto replied.

"Hinata."

"Tou-san."

Hinata giggled, and then kissed Naruto's cheek and skipped past her father into the compound.

Hiashi fixed Naruto with a hard glare as the Uzumaki pulled his scarf up over his mouth and nose to stop the freezing wind pummelling them, "I trust I need not state what will happen if I find out you have hurt my daughter?"

Naruto shook his head, "No, you need not."

Hiashi nodded, "Very well. Have a nice evening, Uzumaki-san."

"Likewise, Hyūga-san."

Hiashi turned and followed Hinata, as Naruto headed off home.

-ABNC-

The Uzumaki teenager entered his apartment to find something there that had not been there when he had left; a picture frame sitting on his bedside table, containing the shot of Naruto and Hinata kissing in the middle of the blizzard outside the Hyūga compound. The mistletoe was just visible at the top of the frame.

Chuckling, Naruto stripped off and donned his nightclothes before lying down and pulling the blankets over himself. His last thought before falling asleep was a simple one.

_Best. Christmas. Ever._

And it was.

Fin.

**(A/N: Well, I have no idea how this went from a Christmas oneshot to a just-over-four-thousand-word sappy romance, but I kinda like it as it is. By my current timezone, it is now ten to three in the morning of December 25th. As such, I say a big Merry Christmas to all my readers, and wish you a happy New Year when we eventually get to that point in a week or so's time.**

**Now, I am unsure how many of you read my update to Previews (Unmasked) yesterday, but of the five reviews I received none answered the question I posed to you. Should I or should I not create a Tumblr page so that I can update you all on my progress without having to wait for a chapter to be ready for posting? It's your decision to make folks, so please drop a review with your opinion. Or I'll just make a poll. Yes, I think I'll do that instead. Check my profile and vote on the poll whether or not I should create a Tumblr page for you all to see how I'm doing.**

**Until next time folks, and as I already said; have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Leonineus, OUT!)**


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